My Favourite Walk
By Judy Eva
York Road Loop Track - walking over an old railway branch line
- 2022
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20 Walking New Zealand, issue no 293
T
he York Road Loop Track is situated at the bottom of the North Egmont National Park Ranges, Taranaki, and follows part of the old Egmont Branch railway line. The railway evolved in 1901 when the local Road Boardland Council lobbied the Ministry of Railways to construct a branch railway for metal quarrying on the mountain. Until the late 1920’s the quarry provided metal for Taranaki roads and rocks for Port Taranaki in New Plymouth. A workforce of 200 men helped build the track and trains would cart rocks from the quarries to the crusher and into the side tipping wagons then out to Waipuku Junction near Above: The entrance to the loop walk. Below left: The old remains of the crusher quarry. www.walkingnewzealand.co.nz
